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Friday, October 14, 2016

April ALA Speaker Erwin Chemerinsky Previews New Supreme Court Term

By Josh Wolff

Research Attorney, Illinois
Appellate Court, First District

The Association’s
April 2017 luncheon will feature Erwin Chemerinsky, the renowned legal scholar and
dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law. Chemerinsky recently
wrote an article for the ABA Journal, previewing the United States Supreme
Court new term, which began on October 3.

Initially, Chemerinsky
noted that, for the first time in 30 years, the Court will begin its new term
with only eight justices. He also discussed the possibility that the Court goes
the entire term without having a ninth justice, observing that if Donald Trump
were to be elected president, “hearings would not likely be held until spring”
and if Hillary Clinton were to be elected president, various possibilities
exists including nominating someone other than Merrick Garland.

Chemerinsky divided the Court's
new term into three major areas of law: race discrimination, criminal justice
and constitutional rights.

Among the race
discrimination cases is Pena-Rodriguez v.
Colorado, which “concerns whether a jury verdict can be reconsidered after
it is learned that one of the jurors expressed racial bias during deliberations.”
Additionally, Bethune-Hill v. Virginia
State Board of Elections and McCrory
v. Harris concern “the use of race in drawing election districts.”

Among the criminal justice
cases is Moore v. Texas, which
concerns how to determine “whether a person is intellectually disabled and thus
cannot be executed.”

Finally, among the
constitutional rights cases is Trinity
Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which concerns “whether a state may
deny aid to parochial schools that it provides to public and secular private
schools in the state.” Additional, in Murr
v. Wisconsin, the Court discuss “how to determine what constitutes a parcel
of land for purposes of the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment.”

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